Thoughts on Charlottesville’s Open House Weekend

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Good morning. Jim Duncan with www.nestrealty.com (archived: 2011) and realcentralvas.wpengine.com/ here in Charlottesville, Virginia reflecting on a weekend of open houses now that National Realtor Open House Weekend is over and done with. I held an open house. I hate open houses. I think they’re a waste of everybody’s time at least in this market but I held one anyway because it was National Open House Weekend and I’ll do whatever I can to try and capitalize on some kind of traffic and we had three and a half people through, well three and a half sets. The last guy counting his half came in and walked out after 30 seconds. I still don’t know why he came and left. But the first three really provided what I see as a synopsis of the Charlottesville real estate market and possibly the national one.

The first set came through looking to move, looking to upgrade because they have a kid on the way. They’re looking for the next phase of their lives and the challenge is they need to sell their house that they bought two years ago in a neighborhood that has had significant property declines so I’m not holding out much hope for them even though they were wonderful people and I would love to work with them.

The second set came through. They are first time home buyers who are getting their feet wet and figuring out exactly how they’re going to move forth and how they want to go onto their next phase of their lives. But first time home buyers just looking and getting acclimated to the Charlottesville market.

The last set are folks who have been looking for five years and believe it or not there are quite a few of these folks out there who are looking at the market and think the pricing is a bit absurd and out of whack and they’re just waiting for the right opportunity. These folks are like another set of my buyers with whom I’ve been working for years and years and years, are looking for their dying house, for their last house, their last move, for the last place they’re ever going to live in.

So three sets through, none willing to write an offer on my listing, darn it, but I think that they provided some valuable insight to what's happening in the market. Interestingly one of the sets said that they are waiting beyond five years and their target date is after 30 April because they expect and predict that property values will take a further dive after the tax credit expires. If that's true, good job all of you all who lobbied for that tax credit. Thanks. Love your feedback. Jim Duncan, realcentralvas.wpengine.com/ (434) 242-7140.